The 21-year-old Winona State University senior studying finance had just landed her first accounting job and was eager to learn more about her career, her mother Barb Ahmann remembered today.

“She looked forward to the future,” she said.

Ahmann’s future was cut short early New Year’s Day when she failed to make a curve at Jackson Street and Norplex Drive and plunged down a 40-foot embankment onto the ice-coated Isle La Plume Slough.

Her Toyota Camry did not immediately break through; Ahmann drove south until she reached thin ice.

A La Crosse Municipal Transit Utility supervisor spotted the tire tracks at the top of the embankment about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. Authorities used underwater cameras to find Ahmann’s submerged car and pulled it from the chilly waters about 1:30 p.m. She was the lone occupant.

An autopsy rescheduled until today in Madison will determine what caused Ahmann’s death and whether drugs or alcohol played a role.

Barb Ahmann said the outpouring of support on her daughter’s Facebook page in the wake of her death is a testament to those she reached.

“She was a person who loved people,” she said.

Barb Ahmann last saw her daughter over the holidays, when the family traveled from Woodbury, Minn., to Nebraska to celebrate. Ahmann is survived by her parents and three brothers, all who are “so proud of her,” her mother said.

“She was so loved and one of those young people who really wanted to make a difference in people’s lives,” she said.